Evanston may consider city service cuts, eliminations as FY19 deficit could top $9M

Genevieve Bookwalter / Pioneer Press

Kate Lewis-Lakin, senior management analyst for the city of Evanston, talks during the April 30, 2018 City Council meeting about expected challenges to the city's 2019 budget.

Kate Lewis-Lakin, senior management analyst for the city of Evanston, talks during the April 30, 2018 City Council meeting about expected challenges to the city's 2019 budget. (Genevieve Bookwalter / Pioneer Press)

Evanston’s school crossing guards, Noyes Cultural Arts Center, tree preservation permits, summer meals for kids and dozens more programs are up for cuts or elimination next year as aldermen look at ways to balance a looming fiscal year 2019 deficit, according to information presented at a recent City Council meeting.

To prioritize which of about 50 of the city’s non-essential programs should continue, aldermen and city staff are looking to residents to fill out surveys, attend an open house and generally share their thoughts and concerns as the city deals with a swelling deficit that staff has estimated could be at least $3 million, if not two or three times that amount, by Jan. 1, city staff has said.

“This is hard. No one said it’s going to be easy,” 1st Ward Ald. Judy Fiske said at the April 30 meeting.

City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz said cuts to Evanston’s police and fire departments also are on the table for next year.

“This may be the first budget I present to you that has cuts to police and fire,” Bobkiewicz said.

The challenges come as Evanston deals with decreasing property tax revenue, increasing employee and pension costs, anticipated bond debt to pay for capital improvements around town and costs to rebuild the Robert Crown Community Center, among other factors, staff has said.

The general fund reserve, which ideally should contain 16.6 percent of the city's annual operating expenses, ended 2017 with 12.8 percent, city staff has said. Property tax revenue has not recovered since the recession, and sales taxes since that time has stayed relatively flat.

Meanwhile, officials say building permit revenue has dropped from a 2016 high and is not expected to recover soon, and Bobkiewicz has said that the city is not looking to raise property taxes.

As such, the list of programs to be considered for cuts next year include those that are not mandated by law and do not raise enough money to pay for themselves, said Kate Lewis-Lakin, senior management analyst for the city of Evanston.

“These are programs that are not required,” Lewis-Lakin said.

Some, like the summer food and child nutrition programs, which provide free meals to kids when school is out, are partly paid for with grants but also depend on the city for money, Bobkiewicz said. Therefore, they are on the list for potential cuts.